1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to electric trolling motors for fishing boats. More particularly, the invention relates to a raising and lowering aid for trolling motors which is characterized by a pair of coil springs having one end fixedly attached by means of tension adjusting bolts to a deck fixture in association with the trolling motor mount bracket and the opposite end secured to spring anchor bolts which are threaded in pivotally mounted connector bars provided in slidably association with the conventional pivoting primary arms of the trolling motor mount bracket. The springs are designed to help lift the trolling motor from the water and to cushion the drop of the trolling motor into the water during the raising and lowering operation. In a preferred embodiment of the invention the torsion springs are adjustably mounted on cylindrically-shaped mandrels in order to vary the spring tension, such that the trolling motor can be easily raised from the water and lowered into the water with a minimum of effort. The raising and lowering aid of this invention is designed for compatibility with conventional mount brackets which accommodate retractable trolling motors and the device can be quickly and easily installed with a minimum of effort and time to assist the user in raising and lowering a trolling motor while fishing.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Trolling motors of various design are currently used in order to more efficiently guide a boat while fishing, docking or in other low speed propulsion situations. Typical of these trolling motors is the "Manually Operated Boat Propulsion Means" disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,835,217, dated May 20, 1958, to J. C. Newberry. The Newberry motor is hand-operated and consists of a frame with a vertical propeller shaft housing rotatably supported in the frame and provided with an automatic latch mechanism for securing the propeller in angular adjusted position with respect to the longitudinal axis of the boat, in order to lock the propeller in a position for steering the boat either along a straight or a circular course. The propeller is operated by turning a crank which is attached to the frame by means of a gearbox and the speed of the propellor is directly proportional to the operational speed of the crank. An "Adjustable Retracting Outboard Motor Bracket" is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,032,304, dated May 1, 1962, to H. A. Machlan. The Machlan motor bracket is designed to receive an outboard motor and is foldable on the stern of a boat to adjust the outboard motor at varying distances from the stern. The bracket folds into a parallelogram and is braced by a chain for variable adjustment with respect to the stern. U.S. Pat. No. 3,629,885, dated Dec. 28, 1971, to Ralph E. Jackson, includes a motor-mounting bracket having an upright plate-like member at the bow and a transverse pin mounted in the plate-like member, with lugs swingably mounted on the pin on opposite sides of the plate-like member. A mounting bracket is also provided, which bracket is swingable with the lugs between an extended position in which the end portion of the bracket extends outwardly of the boat and a retracted position inside the boat. A "Folding Accessory Bracket Assembly" is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,861,628, dated Jan. 21, 1975, to George H. Krieger. This device includes a bracket assembly for mounting a boat accessory to the deck of a boat, which assembly is particularly well adapted for mounting a trolling motor to automatically position the motor vertically in the water in an extended position and parallel to and on top of the boat deck in a retracted position. The bracket assembly includes a mounting means attached to the boat deck and an accessory bracket for mounting the motor, and arm means are pivotally mounted between the mounting means and bracket for automatically positioning the bracket as the arm means are pivoted, to properly position the motor in the extreme positions.
The raising and lowering aid for trolling motors of this invention is designed for use with trolling motors mounted on bracket assemblies which are similar in design to the Krieger folding accessory bracket assembly. The thrust of this invention is to provide a means for aiding the user in both lowering a trolling motor into the water from a retracted position on the deck of a boat and raising the trolling motor back to the retracted position with reduced effort. It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a new and improved raising and lowering aid for trolling motors which raising and lowering aid exerts tension on the trolling motor mount bracket arms to assist in lowering the trolling motor from a retracted position on the boat deck into the water and subsequently raising the trolling motor from the water back to the retracted position on the deck.
Another object of this invention is to provide a new and improved raising and lowering aid for trolling motors which includes a pair of coil springs mounted in torsional association with the deck fixture of the trolling motor mount bracket and engaging a pair of connector bars at one end, which connector bars are slidably mounted at the opposite ends to conventional primary arms carried by the trolling motor bracket, in order to assist in alternately folding the trolling motor into a retracted position on the bracket and lowering the trolling motor from the retracted position into the water.
Still another object of this invention is to provide a raising and lowering aid for trolling motors of various design, which aid is characterized by a pair of oppositely-disposed torsion springs, each having one end fixedly secured to an adjusting bolt threaded in the trolling motor deck fixture and the opposite end secured to an anchor bolt attached to one of two connector bars which are slidably mounted in parallel relationship to the primary arms of the motor mount bracket for exerting an upward force on the primary arms in order to better facilitate lowering of the trolling motor into the water from a retracted position on the boat deck and subsequently raising the trolling motor from the water back into the retracted position on the deck.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a raising and lowering aid for assisting in the deployment and retraction of electric trolling motors, which aid includes a pair of torsion springs positioned on mandrels bolted to either side of the trolling motor deck fixture and adapted to tension a pair of cooperating connector bars which are pivotally carried by the deck fixture and slidably cooperate with conventional primary arms, whereby the primary arms are also tensioned to counteract the influence of gravity in the deployment and retraction operation.